In most of Australia it's a softdrink. Reading above, some of you would also class Milk as a softdrink, but that makes me think it's carbonated milk. And that tastes foul (we have a Soda Stream when we were kids and I had to try ....).
Some years back I was in Tasmania (Australia's southern-most state) and they call it 'Cordial'. Which to me is the non-carbonated version of the same thing. I'm not sure if they still do that .. any two-headers around?
Classes of drinks as I see them:
- Water
- Milk (includes flavored)
- Juice
- Cordial (includes Gatorade)
- Hot Drinks (tea, coffee, hot chocolate)
- Softdrink (includes Guarana 'fizzy' drinks)
- Beer
- Wine (includes mixers)
- Spirits (includes some Cocktails)
- Liquers
These classes are the generics that I would use in the phrase "Anyone here want a $class"?
(And it's Hot Chocolate, not Cocoa .. my wife accidently made herself mug of cocoa once and nearly threw up!)